


DESPAiR-iSH7 (IDOLiSH7 x Danganronpa AU)

by torinotameni



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Character Death, Crossover, Danganronpa AU, Gen, IDOLiSH7 Part 2 Spoilers, IDOLiSH7 Part 3 Spoilers, IDOLiSH7 Part 4 Spoilers, IDOLiSH7 Spoilers, Murder Mystery, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Readable without knowing Danganronpa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:35:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23589265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torinotameni/pseuds/torinotameni
Summary: 16 Idols and their managers are trapped in a school with murder as their only exit ticket.
Relationships: Izumi Iori/Nanase Riku, Momo/Yuki (IDOLiSH7), Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37





	1. Home Form (Prologue)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! So I noticed a lack of IDOLiSH7 x Danganronpa fanfics on the web and decided to try writing this AU myself. I'm still new to writing fan-fics as well as the publishing aspect of AO3 so I apologize for any errors in advance.
> 
> As a warning, this fanfic CONTAINS SPOILERS up to PART 4 of the main story, however, it does not contain spoilers from Danganronpa and does not require any prior knowledge of the series as most of the storyline will be from my imagination.
> 
> This work was inspired by two Ensemble Stars x Danganronpa fanfics from this site. I can only link to one in the 'Associations' tab so I will put the links here instead:  
> (1) https://archiveofourown.org/works/14304009/chapters/33001089  
> (2)  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/7335202/chapters/16661734
> 
> On a side note, I included a few nicknames that some of the characters use to refer to each other (ex. Re:vale call Tsumugi "Maneko-chan"). A list can be found on the IDOLiSH7 English Wikia for those who may be unfamiliar with character appellations.

Rows of desks slowly form as a blurriness disappears. An empty classroom is revealed to a pair of ruby eyes. Riku lifts his head from the desk that rests beneath him, throbbing pain can be felt at the back of his head. He takes a few moments to look at his surroundings before noticing the eerie atmosphere of the room.

"Why am I in a classroom? What was I doing earlier?" he wonders as more questions begin to overflow his mind. The last things he remembers are the cheers from his fans and the lights radiating from the audience. He was standing atop a stage alongside his teammates before his senses began to fade away and darkness overcame his vision.

"That's right... we were in the middle of a live concert... I must have passed out during our performance... Ugh... I’m going to hear about it from Iori..." Suddenly, fear enters his bloodstream as he realizes that he's alone in this unfamiliar setting. Riku peers towards the bolt-shut windows before thinking out loud: "That's strange... who would close windows like that? It's like they don't want us to see outside,” his heart is still pounding.

He takes a few breaths to calm himself down. His gaze wanders around the room landing on a clock that reads 3:50 PM. "Eh?! When did it get so late?!" His eyes widen and his body squirms towards the door. He stumbles out of the classroom in a short panic. "I don't know where I am," he remembers, a bit embarrassed at himself. Standing at one end, Riku peers into a dimly lit hallway. He takes note of the classroom doors lining up the walls: "One, two, three, four...". The hallway consists of 7 classroom doors, each labeled with a blank nameplate. He stands in thought before going up to the nearest classroom. "If I woke up in one of these rooms, then the others might be in here. I'll go in and wake them up! Here goesー!"

He fumbles with the locked handle. "....no luck..."

"Ioriii!" He tries to shout but is met with silence. Riku gives up on the door and makes his way towards the opposite end, hoping to find one of his teammates or manager. "Where could they be?"

Before he realizes it, Riku finds himself in a large corridor. In front of him stood a pair of wide, steel doors. He opens one of the doors out of curiosity for what is on the other side. "I can't ignore two doors as big as these..." A bright light shines through the crack, blinding him for a few seconds.

"Rii-kun! We were all waiting for ya!" An inpatient teen shouts from the middle of the auditorium. "Come on Tamaki, he must be just as confused as the rest of us". Riku watches in a slight surprise as Sogo lectures Tamaki.

Rows of navy blue seats line up towards a stage, filling the majority of the space. Stage lights decorate the ceiling of the auditorium along with a few large speakers. The place was a perfect fit for practicing and for planning out their concerts. If it weren't for the limited number of seats, the idol group could make use of it for their live concerts. It seemed a bit too elegant for a school, especially a creepy one such as this. The rest of IDOLiSH7 can be seen spread throughout the room. As they each take notice of the commotion caused by the subunit MEZZO", they each make their way towards the entrance to greet their center.

"I was worried you were lost, are you hurt anywhere?" Iori asks as he puts his hand on his senior's shoulder. "Iori was about to go out there to find you himself" smiles Mitsuki. "D-dont say that nii-chan!". Nagi races from the stage to embrace Riku. A shocked stutter slips out, "Ah! What are you doing Nagi-san?" In which Nagi responds with: "CELEBRATING OUR REUNION DESU~!"

Yamato waves from the bottom of the stage, as do Banri and Rinto. Riku assumes they were inspecting the area before he arrived. The auditorium seems new, almost unused. He stares towards the stage as the memories of IDOLiSH7's first concert takes him away from the reality of this strange school. Tsumugi pops up and catches him off guard. The young woman starts to bombard the poor man with questions regarding his health: "How are you feeling? Were you scared on your own? Did you have an attack?"

"Aa- I'm fine for now!" He tries to calm down his worried manager. She must have been anxious after his collapse during the concert.

"You need to take care of yourself. I won't allow you to step back on stage until I know you won't do that again." Riku spins around after hearing a very familiar voice.

"T-T-TRIGGER!!!" Sogo exclaims, entering fanboy mode.

"Tenn-nii!"

"Riku."

Riku is faced with his older twin brother standing in the doorframe. "Umm... What are you doing here? Do you know where we are?" Riku asks, completely disregarding his older twin's earlier comment. Another voice answers in place of Tenn. "We found ourselves inside a classroom. We tried looking for clues but nothing revealed our location or any news on the outside world... even the windows were bolted shut. I noticed security cameras on my way here which could mean someone is watching us. This could all be for a dirty show my old man hid from us..." They each stand in silence as Gaku makes his way through the door.

IDOLiSH7 blinks in unison."Soba-?"

"Soba-janai!"

As IDOLiSH7 mistakes Japan's best man as their local soba delivery man, Tenn can't help but crack a smile from their reactions. "W-wait up! *sigh* Man... you two have to stop storming out of the room right after an argument. At least both of you ended up in the same place so I didn't have to search for long..."

"Ryuu..." Tenn and Gaku say in unison, followed by sharp gazes towards each other.

Yamato, after taking his sweet time, joins in with the two groups. "Did something happen earlier?"

Ryunosuke begins to explain the events from his perspective. "Those two were already arguing by the time I woke up. It seems Gaku wanted to break out of there while Tenn told him to be more cautious of the situation. Both started spitting out their own reasons and Gaku stomped out in anger. Tenn soon left on his own, leaving me alone in that weird classroom."

"If Gaku left first then how did Tenn arrive here before him?" Tamaki asked, taking the words out of everybody's mouths.

"Oh.. that's because I ran into them.." Gaku points down the hall. As if on cue, the most popular idol group in Japan appears out of what seemed to be nowhere. "Momo-chan found Yaotome Jr. wandering the halls!" exclaimed Momo. "Hello, Banri, Okarin, kohai-chans, and Maneko-chan” greeted Yuki in a semi-formal tone. A certain individual lets out, "Yaotome Jr. janai!" as the rest of the group let out a laugh. The 10 younger idols feel slightly relieved knowing they have their senpais, Re:vale, with them. "Don't tell me we're stuck in here with you guys too..." Yamato accidentally thinks out loud.

Just before anyone can say another thing, a long beep can be heard from the stage. The sudden sound and movement of a podium rising cause a few of the idols to flinch in shock. Kinako hops onto the podium to much of IDOLiSH7's surprise. "Kinako-chan please get down from there~" Banri was the first to overcome the shock once seeing his president’s beloved pet rabbit.

"Don't wanna! mew.'' Everybody in the room felt their hearts drop. "D-Did Kinako just speak? Please tell me I was hearing things" stumbled Iori. He couldn’t believe his eyes and ears.

Kinako shoots back at him, "Ya heard me right! mew."

Sogo tries to wake up Tamaki, who at this point had fainted at the thought of a ghost possessing Kinako. The questions in everyone's minds surface at the same time. Everybody, at least the conscious ones begin to speak at the same time, all in confusion.

"QUIET!! mew" Shouts the now annoyed bunny. As soon as the silence returns, Kinako begins to speak again. "Not everyone is here yet. I will begin once they arrive. mew."  
The door slams open as ZOOL's Haruka walks in, followed by Touma, Minami, Torao, Ryo and surprisingly TRIGGER's manager, Kaoru. "Anesagi-san. Why are you with ZOOL and Ryo?" Asks Tsumugi.

"I didn't choose to be with them" huffed Kaoru. A smirk appears on Ryo's face. "If you didn't come with us, who knows, maybe you never would've seen your precious boys again." Gaku is pissed just by looking at the man's face. Tenn notices Gaku's attitude and whispers into his ear: "We owe him a favor and he will take advantage of that. Beware of your words." Gaku huffs but retains his composure. "Thank you for bringing him to us. We'll be fine now," he says in a sarcastic tone.

Haruka raises an eyebrow as he glances onto the stage, "So can someone explain what's happening already? He asks in an irritated voice. Kinako clears her throat as everybody turns to her attention. "Now that we're all here, I will explain the rules mew."

"Whoa did it just talk?" Touma asked.

"As some of you may have noticed the windows, you are all trapped in this building! The fun part is… the only way out is to kill one another without getting caught!"

A long silence follows. Everybody is questioning what they just heard come out of the rabbit’s mouth. “You’re joking, right?” Tsumugi is the first to speak, her small voice penetrating the silence. Her words bring the others back to reality. “ _K-kill?_ How do you expect us to kill each other? All of us are close friends and coworkers!” Mitsuki shouts. “I-I would never hurt a soul!” Riku blurts out. “Even if we were to ask us to kill a criminal, I doubt any of us could do it,” Tenn adds on. “Don’t fuck with us! As if we’d listen to a shit pile of fluff!” Haruka’s rage echoes through the auditorium.

The so-called pile of fluff lets out a laugh. “I have my ways.”

Before anybody could notice, Tsumugi was already making her way towards the stage. “Let’s stop this Kinako. Let’s go back home to oto-san.” She tries to reason with her rabbit. She makes it up onto the stage when somebody finally steps forward to call her back. “Hey Tsumugi, don’t get too close. It could be dangerous.” Tsumugi turns to the owner of the voice, Gaku. She’s warmed by his care but reassures his worries. “Kinako is my family’s pet, I’ve been with her since I was a child. I know Kinako won’t hurt me.”

As soon as Tsumugi begins to approach Kinako again, a spear shoots out of nowhere. As if time had slowed down, the idols watch in horror as the spear pierces through the girl’s chest. Her body lifelessly falls backwards onto the stage floor.

Gaku falls to his knees in sync, tears stream down his cheeks yet his eyes cannot look away from the terror on stage. Yamato slumps against the wall in shock, removing his glasses and burying his face into his hands. A few screams are let out by the idols, once again bringing everyone back to reality. The guilt of not being able to protect the young manager crawls into everyone’s body.

A rush of panic enter’s Banri’s system. He was the older manager of IDOLiSH7, he felt it was his responsibility to look after Tsumugi. How was he supposed to tell her father? He wished he was the one to approach Kinako, not her.

Loud, deep breaths of air can be heard by the entrance. “Nanase-san!” Iori, shakingly grabs onto the redhead’s shoulders, trying to calm himself and his partner. The sudden shout causes Tenn to snap out of his trance and quickly turn towards his younger brother. “Riku!” He embraces Riku’s head, pulling him close to his chest to block Riku’s view of the now bloodstained stage. “Riku, do you have your inhaler with you?” Tenn asks while panicking. “I… haven’t seen it… since we arrived… -but Manager is… *cough*” the younger one responds while taking breaths in between words. Both Tenn and Iori take turns to help slow down his breathing.

Sogo watches from the side, still on the ground and holding the unconscious Tamaki in his arms. He looks over at Nagi comforting Mitsuki before glancong towards TRIGGER. Ryunosuke is bent over with his arm over Gaku's shoulders. Kaoru stood frozen behind the two with her mouth agape.  
Sogo’s eyes drift back towards the entrance to Re:vale. Momo is on his knees, a few tears can be seen gathering around his eyes. Yuki stands next to him with his eyes closed, not wanting to view the scene. Rinto whispers to himself, “she would have grown up into a wonderful manager…”

Touma’s focus drifted from Tsumugi to Riku. He tries to comprehend the situation up to this point but reaches no conclusion. He gains an urge to help Riku but feels unneeded at the sight of Tenn and Iori. Haruka wonders if his recent backlash had been the cause of this death. He too, can’t help but feel responsible. Minami seems unscathed from the event, but deep down he sympathizes with everyone else in the room. He notices Haruka and places a hand on the teen’s shoulder as if to say, “don’t blame yourself too hard.” He then looks over at Torao, who has his hands over his face.

“Ahem!” Kinako grabs everybody’s attention once again. A number of Kinako clones hop out from behind the stage, accompanied by king puddings. The mascots are dressed in doctor and nurse attire, complete with a stretcher. They place ~~Tsumugi's~~ the body onto the stretcher and carry ~~her~~ it behind the stage. The idols continue to watch, still unable to comprehend the events occurring in front of them.

“Now that the interruption is over, allow me to go over the rules of this game!”

 _Game_? How could anybody call that a game? Some of the boys’ pains turn into anger, but nobody dares to say a word. After all, they don’t want to witness the death of another person they care about.

“As I said before, you are all students trapped in this school and the only way out is to murder without being caught! If you all check your pockets you will find a gift from this generous rabbit!”

Everybody else reaches into their pockets, each pulling out a small device similar to a smartphone.

“Those are my wonderful creations! I call them ‘Identification Devices’ or ID for short. Now navigate to the list of rules and follow along,” she continues.

1\. Any violence directed towards the mastermind is strictly prohibited or you will face immediate execution  
2\. Under no circumstances should you attempt to escape the building or else you will face immediate execution  
3\. Attempts at breaking security cameras will result in punishment  
4\. When two (2) or more students discover a body, an announcement will be made followed by an investigation period and a trial. All living students must attend the trial  
5\. If the killer is correctly identified during the trial, the killer will face immediate execution. Everybody else may continue on with the game until 2 students remain  
6\. If the killer cannot be identified by the end of the trial, all remaining students will be executed, including any of the killer’s accomplices  
7\. If there are multiple killers, only the first one will be placed on trial  
8\. One killer is allowed to kill up to 2, any more will result in punishment  
9\. All students will be assigned individual rooms, which can be locked and unlocked using the IDs  
10\. The period between 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM will be ‘night-time’. Students are recommended but are not limited to remain in their rooms during this time slot  
11\. All meals will be provided but students are welcome to cook their own meals using the school's kitchen  
12\. The mastermind is allowed to add new rules at any time

Murmurs can be heard coming from the groups. “Any questions?” Kinako asks. “Um… what kind of 'punishment' are you speaking of?” Rinto asks shyly. “You will find out if you break a rule,” the rabbit responds vaguely, causing a shiver to travel up Rinto’s spine.

“Won’t people be looking for us? We’re all popular idols in the industry you know.” Torao speaks. The question has been hanging around in everybody’s heads for a while now. Surely their families, staff, employers, the media, or fans would be searching for them by now.

“ _Everybody_ must be looking for me, the heir of Tsukumo productions!” Ryo exclaims. "… I forgot he was here,” someone whispers.

“This building is secure.” Kinako ignores the man dressed in purple (Ryo). “No one will be able to get in or out. Is that all? Then you are all free to go,” and with that, the rabbit leaps off the podium. The podium itself submerges back into the floor, revealing an empty stage.

“ _Tch_ … it just disappeared,” Haruka comments. “This entire time I thought we were in some kind of game show… but what happened to Takanashi-san was too real.” Touma sighs.

“Now what?” Riku is finally able to speak normally again. “There’s not much we can do here. I suggest looking around for any clues. It’s almost 4:30 PM so we have about 5.5 hours before ‘night-time’...” Tenn answers. Although some of the idols are still thinking of Tsumugi’s death, the majority nod and soon enough they each begin to leave the auditorium.


	2. First Period

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 is here!  
> I found it a bit difficult to write some of the characters' perspectives since I'm unfamiliar with a few of them, but I tried my best to guess how they would respond to these kinds of situations. If you guys feel something is off, you can let me know in the comments. I'd greatly appreciate them and it would help me write the later chapters.
> 
> Anyways, please enjoy the read!

**4:35 PM**

Momo rushes through the halls as Yuki inspects his ID. The devices are each labeled with the owner's name, which is displayed on the screen when the device is turned on. Yuki is reading the buttons on the menu tab when “Student Information" catches his attention and he proceeds to tap on it. He scrolls down a gallery of the other participants' profiles until he spots Momo's icon. He taps on the icon then an information page pulls up. He scans through the text and confirms that each detail is true. It even mentions Momo's Yuki-themed underwear.

He returns to the menu tab before finding an incomplete map of the school. He easily spots the location of their dorms from his screen and uses it to guide Momo, Rinto, and himself through the school. 

The three soon reach the second floor to where the dorms should be. There are two hallways on opposite sides from where they are standing. Re:vale’s rooms are in the left hall, towards the end. Momo reads off the nameplates on each door as he walks past them. “Aha! My room is between Okarin and Yuki! This feels like we’re back in high school and all of us are classmates!” Momo shouts in his cheerful tone. Yuki and Rinto smile at his burst of energy.

  
  


After they each explored their own rooms, they met up in Yuki's. “Yuki!! I don’t want to kill any of my beloved kohais!” Momo leaps across the bed into Yuki’s arms. “There there Momo, I don’t want to kill anyone either.” He pats Momo’s back. "Do you think someone will make a move? I can’t imagine any of us committing murder,” Rinto asks. Yuki takes a moment to think. “If anyone, ZOOL can be a little suspicious, especially knowing what they did to TRIGGER.”

“You think they will try to be sneaky?” Momo stares curiously at the long-haired man. “Ryo is here. He might take control of those boys so we should be cautious.” Yuki answers. Momo starts to sway side to side, still hanging onto Yuki. “I want to believe they’ve changed since back then!” Momo lectures his elder. “M-Momo calm down-” Rinto tries to stop him before he ends up hurting Yuki. “It’s fine Okarin. You’re right Momo. Maybe I’m just a bit paranoid after what happened to Maneko-chan," 

“Maneko-chan…” Momo trails off.

Although Yuki mentioned Tsumugi, he couldn't forgive Ryo for hurting Momo throughout the years. He begins to form a plan to protect those around him, in case the incidents repeat.

  
\---

After everybody had left the auditorium, IDOLiSH7 and Banri gathered in the cafeteria.

“OH Mitsuki! Don’t be so down!” Nagi tries to hide the pain in his heart. “I just… I don’t know what we’re going to do from now on… ha… I’m pathetic. I’m supposed to be cheering everyone up but here I am....” Mitsuki cries. Riku buries his face in his knees before whispering: “No… that should be my line. I’m IDOLiSH7’s center.”

“Nii-san…Nanase-san... we all feel the same way. Now that manager is…” Iori starts but can’t finish his sentence. “I feel like I failed to protect her…” Yamato accidentally said out loud. The rest of IDOLiSH7 never expected that to come out from their leader’s mouth. Under normal circumstances, they would pick on him, but for now, the atmosphere in the room drops at the mention of their manager. 

"As her senpai and guardian, I should have seen it coming and stopped her… or I should have gone up there myself.." Banri speaks but is interrupted by Nagi. "She was a brave lady. I too felt useless during that moment." Nagi hides his accent and reveals his doubts.

“I.. I don’t think she’d want us to mourn over her death. I think during times like these, she'd encourage us to keep on fighting, just like always had...” Everybody turns to look at Sogo. Tamaki pulls on his teammate's sleeve. “Is Manager really gone?” the teen asks while slumped over the table. “Oh right… you passed out right after Kinako appeared,” Yamato remembers. Even though they had _tried_ to explain the events to Tamaki, it was hard for him to believe them. It would be hard for anyone to believe them if they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes. The others look down in response to the question, indirectly answering "sadly, yes".

Mitsuki interrupts the silence by suddenly standing up, knocking his chair back. “We haven’t eaten in a while, who knows how long we’ve been asleep for.” His tone changed to sound more cheerful like his regular self. “I’m going to head to the kitchen to whip something up,” before picking up his chair and making his exit. “Ah- I’ll help out.” Sogo follows him out. “Um… I’m sure Tenn-ni and the rest of TRIGGER would be hungry too. I’ll go look for them.” Riku runs off, paying no attention to the frantic Iori following behind him. “Nanase-san!”

Yamato walks off on his own. "Yama-san where are you going?" Tamaki asks in a quieter tone than earlier. "I'm going to look around for beers. I need something to calm my head." Banri looks up, "Perhaps I need the same," and the two adults head out. "Ban-chan wait up!" Tamaki shot up from his seat. The thought of king pudding completely turns his mood around and he runs after them.

"OH! Everyone left!" Nagi exclaims to no one.

\---

In the meantime, Tenn, Gaku, Ryunosuke, and Kaoru continue their investigation of the school. They had inspected every aspect of their IDs as soon as they left the auditorium. The map they discovered showed a section of the school, but some areas and rooms were greyed out. Notable areas on the first floor were the gymnasium, auditorium, indoor garden, kitchen, cafeteria, and even an incinerator. On the second floor were the dorms, infirmary, library, PA room and a number of unmarked rooms. 

The first place they visited was the incinerator. It was awfully strange for a school to have one but they assumed it's purpose was to destroy evidence during the killing game. The incinerator was a couple meters behind a fence that was slightly taller than Ryunosuke. The lever was on the wall not far behind the fence. Tenn noted that if one had small enough hands, they could reach in and switch the machine on. Putting that thought aside, they moved onto the other available rooms before settling down in the library.

"So far I haven’t seen any present-day articles...” Ryunosuke sighs while going through piles of old newspapers. They had already spent about 2 hours in the library at this point. Gaku still seems gloomy from the incident on stage, but he focuses on examining the shelves.

Ryunosuke flips through the papers, “-I found something!” The other three glance up from their books and gather by Ryunosuke. “Black or White- IDOLiSH7 VS. ZOOL...” the headline reads, followed by “...Concert Hall Attacked by…”

The newspaper itself seemed to have been a few years old. “Most of the words are unreadable but this serves as our first hint on the outside world's condition,” Tenn states. “The concert hall for Black or White was attacked? Who attacked? And what happened to everyone there?" Gaku looks over Ryunosuke's shoulder, trying to read what he can. "That doesn’t give us much."

Ryunosuke hands the paper over to Tenn as he begins digging deeper into the piles. “Japan in Chaos…” he reads off another article. “Death Toll Reaches 100,000…”, “The United States of America Refuses to Send Additional Armies to Japan…”, “Death Toll Reaches 150,000-”

All four look at each other in horror from their discoveries.

  
  


\---

“Ugh I want to leave this stupid school already,” Haruka vents in frustration, his voice echoing through the empty gym. “You heard the rules. You saw the girl. I won’t stop you from attempting to break out. It’s your decision anyway.” Minami speaks behind the youngest. 

“Hey Haruka, calm down.” Torao and Touma try to get a hold of Haruka before he screws up. “And Minami, I can’t tell if you care about him or not with the way you're speaking… ” Touma begins trying to teach Minami but the latter doesn't listen.

Minami starts scrolling through his ID. He opens up a camera, which he assumes is used to take pictures of evidence during the 'trial period'. He plays around, snapping a photo of Touma and Torao grabbing Haruka out of the gymnasium. The photo saves under a tab labeled as 'Evidence'. He puts the device back into his pocket then proceeds to follow his teammates out.

When Minami exits the gym, he finds 2 extras talking to the rest of ZOOL. It seems Iori and Riku had just run into them during their search for TRIGGER.

Touma uses this chance to ask: "Riku are you alright from the attack earlier?" Riku flinches at the question. This brings him back to the time Touma first met Riku on the streets. Touma had helped him calm down after a coughing fit, in which Riku pulled a sandwich out of his bag and offered it as repayment. Touma still remembers Riku's fluster as he realized he had grabbed the wrong item. 

"I'm fine now! Tenn-nii- Kujo-san and Iori helped me out!" Riku replied. Iori could be heard sighing at the mention of the asthma attack. Touma smiles, "That's good to hear."

A short buzz plays throughout the school and a familiar voice sounds from the PA system. "It's that stupid rabbit again," Haruka whispers.

"Testing~! Hello my dear students! It's your friendly neighborhood rabbit again! I thought, since I'm so generous, I would give you all another gift! So lets make a deal… The first person to kill will get a bonus reward! Bet ya'll are interested~ The first murderer will get to pick another student to leave with! Ya'll heard me! TWO can leave-- but only if you kill someone within the next 24 hours!"

A combination of shocked, worried and confused reactions come from the idols and managers.

"Ahaha I like that reaction!" The rabbit laughs, watching them from the cameras. "The 24 hour counter starts now! You guys better get to killing~!" The buzzing cuts, leaving the school to be completely silent. 

  
  


\---

"That little piece of shit-" Yamato curses under his breath. Banri would usually tell Yamato off for cussing in front of Tamaki but he agreed with Yamato. "Will someone actually kill one of us?" Tamaki asks in confusion. Yamato feels guilty for showing his weakness in front of the teen. "It'll be alright Tama, Onii-chan is here after all," he says with a slight smirk. Yamato thought saying that would boost his confidence but he still has a bad feeling.

Further down the hall, Sogo and Mitsuki pause from their cooking. "What… do you think of this situation?" Mitsuki starts, "I want to think this is all a bad dream. I wish we could all wake up and go back to our old lives. I miss our rehearsals, recordings, live concerts, programs…" Mitsuki looks like he would cry again if he hadn't cut his sentence. "We'll push through this just like we did for our first live. IDOLiSH7 is strong, we won't lose to this school either," Sogo hugs Mitsuki.

  
  


\---

Nagi had wandered his way into the library. "Nagi-kun!" Seeing Nagi lifts Kaoru's spirits. Nagi smiles as he spots the group.

TRIGGER all decided to pay no attention to the recent announcement, but collectively agreed to be extra cautious as night approaches. The three greet Nagi and ask where the rest of IDOLiSH7 were.

"That kid…" Tenn refers to his brother. "They were looking for us? You're the first one we've run into," Ryunosuke says to Nagi. Tenn looks over at the clock. "It's almost 8:30 PM, we might as well eat. We can go over our findings in the cafeteria." He stands and begins putting his books away. Ryunosuke and Gaku gather the relevant newspapers before they head down.

  
  


\---

"Momo is getting hungry," Momo announces. "The rules mentioned meals are provided," Yuki scrolls through his ID again. "How about we check out the cafeteria? We haven't looked around much since the auditorium." Rinto suggests and the other two nod in agreement.

When the three reach the first floor, they notice ZOOL along with Iori and Riku. "Re:vale!" Riku waves them over. "Riku! We're on our way to the cafeteria!" Momo runs up to the group, slowly followed by Yuki and Rinto. "Momo-san, Yuki-san, Okazaki-san. We were looking for TRIGGER when we ran into ZOOL," Iori bows to his senpais.

Momo takes a moment to remember what he, Yuki and Rinto had been doing. “Hm? TRIGGER? We haven’t seen them. We went straight to Yuki’s room~!” And puts his arm around his partner. “Momo… don’t give them the wrong ideas.” The rest of the group stare as Re:vale puts on their married couple act. Rinto walks past the two to speak with Iori and Riku. “It’s getting late, they may have already gone to the cafeteria for something to eat. How about the two of you stay with us?” Riku smiles and nods at the suggestion. “That sounds like the logical thing to do,” Iori nods.

Riku turns around to face ZOOL, “ZOOL must be hungry too! We can all go together.” Touma accepts the offer before turning to face the other members. The rest of ZOOL didn’t seem interested but they didn’t reject the offer either. “I guess that’s a yes from them,” Touma replies.

  
  


\---

Mitsuki and Sogo bring out an array of dishes including dumplings, pizzas, and cakes, as well as vegetarian options for Yuki. 

All 4 units, as well as Banri, Kaoru, and Rinto made it to the cafeteria in time for dinner. Everyone's eyes sparkle when they lay their eyes on the vast amount of food. "This looks delicious!" Momo, Haruka, Tamaki, and Riku exclaim upon sitting at one of the tables. As much as Haruka didn't want to admit, the food around him made him realize how hungry he had been. 

Mitsuki laughs at their reactions, "Haha, Sogo and I got carried away. Some of the dishes appeared out of nowhere when we entered the cafeteria. Kinako did mention food will be provided… Anyways, there's a lot, so eat as much as you want!"

"They even have soba here-!" Gaku stares in awe. Tenn glares at Gaku before digging into his omurice. "Tenn-nii!" Riku sits down next to his brother with his own plate of omurice. The two start talking about their childhood. Much to Ryunosuke and Gaku's surprise, their cold-hearted center actually seemed content talking about his past. The two left the twins on their own.

Banri, Yuki, Momo, and Rinto sat at the same table. Across from them were Torao, Gaku, Ryunosuke, Yamato, and Sogo. Not far sat Nagi, Mitsuki, and Minami.

Haruka shared a table with Touma until Tamaki dragged Iori towards their table. "Isumin!" Tamaki called out before placing his food down. "*sigh* If you wanted to talk to Isumi-san about your games you could have let me out of this." Regardless of that comment, Iori still sat down at their table. 

About 30 minutes had passed before Touma stood up to look around the room. Torao's table was the loudest. Riku and Tenn had moved to the adult table and Gaku is making a commotion. Touma watches as Ryunosuke holds Tenn by his armpits, lifting the shorter man off the ground. Riku is on his tippy toes trying to get his brother down. Apparently Gaku had pissed off Tenn earlier and Tenn responded by dumping apple juice on the older man's pants, starting the argument. It sounds like Yamato did find the beer after all.

Tamaki was over at Re:vale's table, sharing his king pudding with his senpais. Yuki is in the middle of telling the story of Old Re:vale. At least, he had started talking about their high school lives but has been praising Banri for the last 20 minutes.

Iori notices Touma's unease. "Is something wrong?"

"...Has anyone seen Ryo?" Touma asks over everyone's conversations. A few look over at him before looking around the room. "Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him since the meeting in the auditorium…" Iori says.

"You don't think he's…" Banri begins. "-Or maybe he's planning to…" Momo continues.

"*sigh* He said he was staying in his room," Minami spoke in a clear voice. "He headed straight towards the dorms after we left the auditorium."

A few breaths are let out after they heard Minami. "But still… it's getting close to night-time. We should all be cautious and head straight to our rooms in the next half hour." Tenn announces. "Tenn… you don't think one of us will actually try to kill someone, do you?" Riku looks up at his brother. "I can't say for sure," Tenn responds while looking down towards his feet. 

"We'd all be safe in our rooms for the night anyway," Banri adds. They divide up the cleaning tasks among each other. Mitsuki sent Yamato, Banri, Gaku, Ryunosuke, and Torao immediately to their rooms for the night since they had been drinking. 

"OH! Tenn-kun! Earlier in the library, you mentioned telling us something," Nagi remembers. "*sigh* It can wait until everyone is sober." The man answers. Riku looks over at Tenn, "That's why you were mad at Gaku and Ryunosuke…"

By the time 10:00 PM rolled around, everybody was out of the common areas.

\---

*knock knock*

Riku sluggishly walks to open the door. "Tenn-nii? Why are you here so late?" Riku asks after he opens the door. 

"Riku… I wanted to talk to you. Also, next time don't open your door so easily." Tenn whispers as he walks into the room. 

Riku locks his door before sitting next to Tenn on the bed. Tenn looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep. Worry was illustrated all over his face.

"What's wrong? I don't know if I can help but I will try! Back then, I could barely make it far from the bed- but Tenn-nii always took care of me. Tenn-nii helped me grow stronger. Now I can proudly stand next to you on stage." He smiles.

Riku's words touched Tenn's heart. Tenn suddenly hugs his twin. Riku hesitates before also putting his arms around him. "The last time we hugged like this was when we were children..."

They both take in the moment before Riku asks once again.

“What did you want to talk about?”

"...Do you remember the announcement...?"

\---

*knock knock*

“Coming! Huh? Iori?”

“Good morning, Nii-san. Can I ask you something?”

“It's rare for you to come to me for advice... Sure thing! I'm your older brother after all! Haha,” Mitsuki laughs as Iori lets himself in.

Iori sits down followed by Mitsuki. “If you were given the chance to save one person, but you had to sacrifice everybody else around you… what would you do?”

"Huh? That sounds like a hard one... I wouldn't want to lose anybody around me. But I guess if that person was you, I'd do anything to keep you safe!" Mitsuki answers.

Iori blushes before turning away. "I would do the same..." he says, barely audible.

\---

*knock knock*

"Minami. You awake? It's Haruka."

Minami sighs in irritation but opens the door. "What do you want?"

\---

**7:15 AM (the following day)**

"Wooow~!" Momo looks excitedly at the food on the tables. "O-HAYO MINNA-SAN" Nagi shouts, making a grand entrance into the room. "Ohayo!" Riku greets him back from the kitchen. Most of IDOLiSH7 were the first ones to enter the cafeteria, with Nagi being last.

Some gathered with their units or close friends before making their way to the cafeteria. Others waited until it was a little past 7:00 AM to avoid facing anyone alone. You wouldn't want to run into a killer on your way down for breakfast, that was the mindset most of the idols had. 

TRIGGER makes their entrance, catching Sogo's attention. He calls them over to the table of food that he and Mitsuki prepared. "Tenn-nii…" Riku walks up to Tenn but the elder twin pays no attention. "Is something wrong?" Iori asks. "-Ah! No, its nothing, we just got into a sibling quarrel yesterday," he tries to laugh it off.

A few minutes later Ryo and Minami are at the door. The rest slowly filter in after them. Momo waves to Yuki and Banri as the two enter. It seems he had arrived early to get food and a table for them. Yuki quickly spots Ryo and comments: "It looks like somebody finally decided to show up."

They all settle into their seats and last night's ruckus resumes. Mitsuki and Sogo bring empty dishes into the kitchen to begin washing them. The two talk about Iori and Tamaki, and how they can be such dorks. Just as Tamaki walks in, Sogo can't help but laugh and accidentally splashes water onto Mitsuki. “Wahh!" Mitsuki exclaims in surprise but soon laughs it off. "A-ah-I apologize for such actions!-" Sogo starts bowing and apologizing profusely. "It’s fine! At least most of the water hit my apron...haha” Mitsuki calms Sogo while water drips from his hair. “Sogo is clumsy,” Tamaki says before leaving the kitchen. “Ah- I’ll take care of the dishes! You can go take a shower and change. I apologize again!”

Touma and Torao arrive at the cafeteria a bit late. "Sorry we’re late! I had trouble waking up Torao,” Touma explains as he walks towards Nagi at the table of food. “No problem desu~! Most of us already ate but there’s still plenty,” he smiles. Touma looks around and notices Ryo and Minami. He walks up to the two of them while Torao gets both their food. “Have you seen Isumin around?” Touma asks. Minami looks at Ryo then back at Touma. They each have a strange feeling. 

"Isumin? Haven't seen him. He probably slept in." Tamaki shouts from the other side of the room. “I assumed he was with you,” Iori answered Touma. “I tried knocking on his door but no one answered.” Touma looks around the room once more, hoping he had missed him the first time. “-I’ll go look for him,” Touma rushes out of the cafeteria. Re:vale takes notice of the commotion and heads out after him. In a few moments, most of the idols join in on the search party. 

  
  


\---

Iori, and Tamaki search on the upper level by the dorms. They try knocking on Haruka’s door but no one answers. Mitsuki comes out from his room with wet hair and a towel over his shoulders. “What are you guys doing?”

“Ni-san-” Iori notices his brother. Tamaki interrupts Iori: “Mikkiii, have you seen Isumin around? We can’t get into his room without his ID.”

“We’re not breaking into his room,” Iori tells Tamaki.

“Haruka-san? Hmm… I haven’t seen him since dinner last night. Did something happen?” He looks back between Iori and Tamaki, he can tell both of them are anxious. “He’s the only one who hasn’t shown up for breakfast yet. Even Ryo was there.” Iori explains. “Have you guys checked the infirmary? I think the map said it was on this floor.” Mitsuki suggests.

The three of them head straight to the infirmary in hopes of finding him alive.

  
\---

Momo, Yuki, and Rinto search the gym on the first floor of the school. “Harukaa!!” Momo shouts. Yuki searches in the equipment room but doesn’t find any spots a person could hide in. 

“Did you find anything Rinto?” Yuki asks across the gym. Rinto had searched the gym teacher’s office but had no luck either.

  
  


\---

Down the hall, Nagi, Ryunosuke, and Yamato look around in the school’s indoor garden. “This place is bigger than it seems, it's size could be an entire building itself,” Ryunosuke notes while looking at the collection of plants. The three of them head further into the garden when their eyes lay upon an archery range. “W-whoa… why is there one of these in here?” Yamato wonders as he stares at the archery equipment hanging on the walls. "Anyone could easily access these weapons..."

“Yamato! Tsunashi!” The green-haired man spins around and runs to find Nagi. They couldn’t believe their eyes. Nagi is crouched down next to a medium-sized pool of blood. Ryunosuke follows Nagi’s gaze to find a bloodied knife lying not too far from them.

\---

Back in Haruka’s room, Touma, Minami, Torao, and Ryo stand in front of a body covered in blood. They immediately knew the owner of the body from the mint-colored hair. Minami walks over to it and flips the body around. Blood had poured from beneath the teen's eyelids.

A buzz rings through the PA system. _“Attention all students! A body has been discovered! The investigation period has started and the trial will begin in 12 hours.”_

Victim: Haruka Isumi

Survivors: Iori Izumi, Yamato Nikaido, Mitsuki Izumi, Tamaki Yotsuba, Sogo Osaka, Nagi Rokuya, Riku Nanase, Gaku Yaotome, Tenn Kujo, Ryunosuke Tsunashi, Momo, Yuki, Minami Natsume, Touma Inumaru, Torao Mido, Banri Oogami, Kaoru Anesagi, Rinto Okazaki, Ryo Tsukumo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry if I killed anyone's favorite ><
> 
> I placed a few hints but more will be revealed later.  
> Please feel free to comment any guesses :D  
> I won't share any spoilers though :))


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